ANCIENT SHADES, by James Lecky: Although the admission pains me, I must confess that, under certain circumstances, I am a man for whom the goods of others become a temptation. Had I given myself more time to think – or if I had not foolishly accepted a pipe of kif from my gambling companion Abel […]

ALDROM, by Matthew Wuertz: The sun pulled away from me like a warm blanket as men led me up the wide steps.  Someone’s cough echoed in the vast interior of wherever we were, and though curious, I left my blindfold in place.  We walked a short distance and then descended a staircase that spiraled into […]

NO TWO STONES, by Christopher Wood: 1. Now. Still I am the strongest! I am atop this hill on the Third Moon. Behind me, my soldiers struggle up the slope. I raise my iron sword over my head; it shines in the surreal light of the World blazing above us like a sun. I turn […]

LIVING TOTEM, by Vaughn Heppner: Kulik lifted his face into the blizzard, rose from his shivering crouch and kept staggering.  Icy particles beat at him.  Snow crunched under his moccasins.  His toes throbbed, but that was good because it meant they hadn’t frozen. He pulled his fur cape tighter.  Hoary frost coated his eyebrows and […]

DEATH’S LAST DAUGHTER, by Jeff Crook: After many adventures, the mameluke warrior Jafar al-Tinnin is no closer to finding his lover, Leiley, or avenging himself against Imam Nuri — the Sufi sorcerer who kidnapped her. At a cursed well in the Libyan desert, Jafar and his friend Ketei seek the advice of a mad djinn, […]